


O Tannenbaum

by Bobcatmoran



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canon Era, Christmas, Christmas Tree, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:18:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5253107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobcatmoran/pseuds/Bobcatmoran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean Prouvaire has brought a tree into his rooms. No one quite understands why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	O Tannenbaum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darthfar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthfar/gifts).



"Explain to me again, Prouvaire, why you need help carrying a tree up to your lodgings."

"Because," Jean Prouvaire said, his tone that of one stating the obvious, "It is too large for me to carry up the stairs by myself."

"Yes, I can see that — where on earth did you acquire such a thing anyhow? But why do you want a tree — an entire tree! — in there?" Combeferre asked. "Where on earth are you even planning to put it?" he added, recalling the astonishingly cluttered state of Prouvaire's rooms.

"Bahorel helped me find it in the Jardin du Luxembourg. It's quite lovely, is it not? I had hoped to have it up on the first of Advent, but was quite distracted, you know, with that new Hugo novel that Bahorel gave me, the one with the hunchback."

"It's an…advent tree?" 

"A Christmas tree, a sapin de noël," Prouvaire said. "I have an aunt from Strasbourg, and she told me about them. According to her, they're supposed to symbolize the Tree of Life in Eden, but I prefer to think of it as bringing an element of the forest indoors, a touch of the primeval amongst the trappings of civilization."

"What does Eden have to do with Christmas? I mean, apart from the biblical connection?" Combeferre asked.

"You know, I'm not quite sure. I never even thought about that. Perhaps it is because if the tree was supposed to be an extension of creche, then it would have to be in imitation of the scene in Bethlehem, and I don't think they have pine trees there."

"No, it would have to be some sort of palm tree, I suppose," Combeferre said. "And I doubt you could obtain one of those in Alsace. Doubt you could obtain one in Paris, either."

"Mmm, perhaps the hothouse at the Jardin des Plantes?" Prouvaire mused. "Sneaking a tree out of there would be much more difficult than the Luxembourg." He seemed to be considering it nonetheless.

"Prouvaire, I am skeptical that you have room for one tree in your rooms, much less two," Combeferre pointed out.

"I suppose you're right," Prouvaire said. "All right, then. Do you want to carry the top end or the stump?"

"I can support the top end," Combeferre said. "But I think that you had best lead the way then, so that the natural curvature of the branches follows the direction that the tree is carried, and we minimize damage to the tree."

"A capital plan!" Prouvaire said.

* * *

"Ha," Bahorel exclaimed loudly upon his next visit. "So you did manage to get that tree of yours up into your rooms!"

"Yes, and it fits perfectly," Prouvaire said. "There is just enough room to squeeze by it if you walk sideways."

Bahorel privately thought that this was a generous definition of 'fits perfectly,' but decided not to voice that opinion. What he did say was, "Who helped you? I assume you didn't pull it all the way up two flights of stairs with just your scrawny arms."

"Not all of us are born brawlers," Prouvaire said primly. "Combeferre assisted me. And look! He devised this clever system so that I wouldn't have to climb under the tree to water it!" Prouvaire edged around to the other side of the tree, and gestured towards a complex-looking series of tubes and funnels. "I like to lie under the tree anyhow, though, and look up through the branches. It makes me feel as though I am deep in the forest, alone on a mountainside."

"Does it make you feel like you are about to have a squirrel run up your trousers? Because I had that happen to me once when I was lying under a tree on a mountainside."

"Oh, you are terrible," Prouvaire said, batting at Bahorel.

"I'm only saying, if you are lying on a mountainside, you must think of these things happening. It's quite within the realm of possibility." A pause, and then, "I don't recommend squirrels up your trousers, though. You wouldn't think it to look at them, but those little bastards have claws. I got scratches in all sorts of place you don't want scratches."

"You have no sense of vision. Come, you try lying under the tree, see if you don't feel the connection with nature."

Bahorel lay down, and scooted back so that he was under the tree with Prouvaire. "Smells like pine. I mean, it smelt like pine in here anyhow, but even moreso lying here, with branches practically up my nose."

"It's relaxing, isn't it?"

"It is, actually." Bahorel said. "Nice to be surrounded by green, especially this time of year, when Paris has put on her grey cloak for the season."

"Mmm, yes. I was thinking, my aunt told me that they'd tie candles on the tree and light them. I imagine they'd look like stars, all scattered throughout the boughs. You want to try it?"

"That sounds like an enormous fire hazard," Bahorel said. "Let's do it. Do you have enough candles? Or do you want me to run home and grab some?"

"We can try with what I have here," Prouvaire said, wiggling himself out from under the tree, "and if the effect proves inadequate, then we could try it with more."

**Author's Note:**

> Jehan is ahead of the curve here with his Christmas tree. History says that they weren't introduced to Parisian society until 1840 when Duchess Hélène of Orleans (the German-born wife of Louis Phillipe's eldest son) had one set up at the Tuileries. 
> 
> There were no greenhouses in the Jardin du Plantes until 1834, but shhh.
> 
> And thanks to my youngest brother for the beta! Any remaining mistakes you may see are all mine.
> 
> There is now a sequel to this! Check out ["On the Care and Feeding of Christmas Trees"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9050992) for a scene about a week afterwards.


End file.
